R. Kelly has broken up with his divorce lawyer, and the attorney has asked a judge to order the R&B singer to pay her more than $12,000 she claims he owes her.
Chicago attorney Lisa Damico began consulting for Kelly as he faced jail time — and was eventually locked up for three nights — after falling more than $160,000 behind in child support and related costs in March.
Damico withdrew from the case in September, citing “irreconcilable differences” with the singer. A month later, Damico has asked Cook County Judge Lori Rosen to order Kelly to pay her $12,750 she said is outstanding on more than $25,000 she billed the singer, according to court records.
Kelly paid Damico a $2,500 retainer in March, as well as another $10,000 payment, the filing states. Damico’s hourly rate is $250. Damico declined to comment on the petition when asked by The Chicago Sun-Times. A hearing is set for Nov. 4.
Kelly landed in jail in March when he was unable to come up with the six-figure payment needed to discharge the debt he owed ex-wife Andrea Kelly for child support and educational expenses, including college tuition for his daughter. That stint in jail came just weeks after another three-night stay for the singer, who had to borrow money after he was unable to come up with $100,000 to post bond for sexual abuse charges tied to four women brought by Cook County prosecutors.
Kelly since has been jailed without bond on federal charges for allegedly producing child pornography and tampering with witnesses to cover up his alleged crimes.
The singer, who dropped multiple platinum albums during the six-year span between his 2002 indictment for child pornography and his acquittal at trial in that case in 2008, was able of finance an army of local attorneys in his criminal case a decade ago.
But Kelly was dropped by his record label following the broadcast of the “Surviving R. Kelly” documentary series, and his music has been targeted for a boycott by the #muteRKelly campaign, which singled him out because of longstanding allegations that he had sex with underage girls. In addition to state and federal charges pending against him in Chicago, he also has been charged with child prostitution in Minnesota. One of his alleged victims also has sued him in civil court in Chicago.
Kelly’s $100,000 bond for the sex abuse cases was posted by a suburban acquaintance, a business owner who purportedly met the singer a few months earlier on a cruise, though the woman in September asked a judge if she could get the money back. Kelly had sought to decrease the $20,000 monthly child support payment he had been making to his wife, the mother of his three children.
